3/31/05: Three sides to every story

There are three sides to every story: your side, the other person's side and the truth.

Your side is filtered through your life experiences, perceptions and judgments. The same is true for the other person. The truth, however, consists of simply the facts, unfiltered by emotion, judgment and more importantly, limited vision. The truth encompasses not only what has taken place, but also what has not taken place.

What has not taken place is often the spiritual reason behind what has taken place. Rarely do we know this part of the truth as our vision is usually limited to what we can see in front of us. We can only guess at the higher purpose, if we expand our vision at all.

Often we only see the facts in front of us and mold them to shape our judgments and perceptions. Our judgments and perceptions are not efficient tools to determine the truth. They are one sided, easily influenced and subjective and will change with each person.

The next time you are in conflict with someone, try to see not only their side of the story, but also the truth. Seeing the other person's view helps to understand them better. Seeing the truth helps to understand the situation better. When both people can see the truth, instead of clinging to their individual stories, the conflict automatically dissolves.